The Information about Ireland Site Newsletter
September 2002

°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
IN THIS ISSUE
~~~ Foreword
~~~ Keep us Free!
~~~ News Snaps from Ireland
~~~ New Free Resources at the Site
~~~ Free 5% Discount Voucher
~~~ Sound Memories by Geraldine Flanagan
~~~ Irish Draw Begrudgers!
~~~ Cara Irish Penpals News
~~~ Urban Cowboys by Sarah Tracy
~~~ Famous Irish Songs: Danny Boy
~~~ Gaelic Phrases of the Month
~~~ Monthly free competition result
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
FOREWORD
~~~~~~~~
Hi again from Ireland where the talk is of
cutbacks in public services and the apparent
collapse of the project to build a National
Stadium. What a shame.
Many thanks to Geraldine Flanagan and Sarah Tracy
for their contributions this month. Why don't
you write an article about some aspect of Ireland!
We are pleased to be able to offer you a 5%
discount voucher on any purchase made at
irishnation.com
Until next month, keep well!
Michael
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
PLEASE - send this newsletter on to your friends
or relatives who you think are interested in
Ireland. By doing this you are helping to keep
us 'free'.
Got something to say? Don't keep it to yourself!
Why don't you submit an article for inclusion
in the next edition? Email to:
newsletterarticle@ireland-information.com
If you have an AOL or HOTMAIL account then you
will get much better results by viewing this
newsletter online here:
http://www.ireland-information.com/sep02.htm
The only way that you could have been
subscribed to this newsletter is by filling
out a subscription form at the site whereupon
a confirmation notice would have been issued.
If you wish to unsubscribe then go here:
http://www.ireland-information.com/newsletter.htm
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
KEEP THIS NEWSLETTER ALIVE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GET YOUR FAMILY CREST NOW!
OFFER EXTENDED THROUGH OCTOBER! Get a free family
crest watch with every Family Crest Ring!
Get you Christmas Gift Shopping over with now
- see here:
http://www.irishnation.com/familycrestrings.htm
Authentically researched and reproduced and backed
up by a lifetime guarantee our family crest prints,
rings, watches and more make the perfect gift for
a friend or relative - or get them for yourself!
New Product: Family Crest Plaques with 4 hand
painted metal shields (Husband's name, Wife's
name, Maiden name of Husband's mother, Maiden name
of Wife's mother)
Go here to find out more:
http://www.irishnation.com/familycrestgifts.htm
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
NEWS SNAPS FROM IRELAND
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NATIONAL STADIUM PLAN THWARTED
The plans for the national sports stadium at
Abbotstown on the outskirts off Dublin city have
received a major blow with the withdrawal of state
funding by the Bertie Ahearn lead coalition
Government. The worsening state of the public
finances are to blame for this latest development
which has seen major problems in the provision of
public services, particularly healthcare.
In what is being seen as a huge climbdown by
Bertie Ahearn the Government has now advertised
in national newspapers for private investors to
continue the project in which over 200 Million
Euro has already been invested.
Part of the funding for the project involved huge
allocations of grants to the Gaelic Athletic
Association (GAA), the Football Association of
Ireland (FAI) and the Irish Rugby Football Union
(IRFU). These grants are now in jeopardy although
the various sporting organisations are
threatening to sue if the Government does not
agree to meet the verbal commitments it has given.
This issue is complicated by the bid by the FAI to
co-host the 2008 European Soccer Championships, the
third largest sporting event in the world after the
World Cup and the Olympic Games. Ireland is obliged
to offer 2 stadia for the event but currently only
has Landsdowne Road available. Pressure is being
brought to bear on the GAA to make Croke Park
available on a once-off basis for this huge event
even though the GAA rules do not allow 'foreign'
games to be played in its stadia.
The FAI has not recently enamored itself to the
Government either after it sold the television
broadcast rights to Irish soccer games to SKY
Television.
Whether the Government intends to use the
proposed funding it promised as a carrot to the
two associations to get them in line remains to
be seen.
NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE PROCESS IN CRISIS AGAIN
The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, David
Trimble, has survived another leadership challenge
from Unionist hardliners within his own ranks,
but at the cost of setting a deadline for the
dissolution of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The UUP leader has given the IRA three months to
completely disband or else the parliament will
be dissolved and new elections held.
Despite recent decommissioning of IRA weapons
it seems unlikely that the IRA will allow
itself to be dictated to by the larger of the
two main Unionist parties.
CHURCH MAY BAN NON-PRACTICING SCHOOL CHILDREN
In what is being seen as a highly controversial
attempt by the Catholic Church in Ireland to raise
funds the hierarchy have declared that they may
ban children of families who do not fully practice
the Catholic religion from attending their schools.
The parish priest of Stamullen in County Meath
warned that his 170 pupil school would only admit
practising, believing, and contributing Catholics.
MOX FUEL ARRIVES AT SELLAFIELD
Despite the very public protest by Greenpeace
the controversial Mox fuel shipments that were
rejected by Japan have finally arrived at
Sellafield under tight security. The British
Government has accused Greenpeace of
scaremongering.
The Irish and Norwegian Governments are among
those who are talking legal action against the
British Government because of the threat posed
by the nuclear facility in Cumbria, only a short
distance away across the Irish sea. Sellafield
is regarded as one of the primary terrorist
targets in these islands.
RYANAIR PASSENGER ATTEMPTED TO SMUGGLE GUN
A passenger who attempted to smuggle a handgun on
board a Ryanair flight from Sweden to England had
previously received aircraft flight training in
South Carolina in America.
Kerim Chatty, a Muslim, was among a group who were
removed from the aircraft which was then searched.
He is being held in Sweden on a preliminary charge
of planning to hijack a plane.
Speculation has mounted that he intended to crash
the plane into a British embassy either in London
or in Europe. He is denying all charges.
HOUSE PRICES ON THE UP AND UP AGAIN
After a slow Summer, house prices in Ireland have
again picked up with a 1.3% surge during August
leading to an increase of 7.4% in 2002 so far. Low
interest rates and the continuing volatility in
the Stock Markets are at least partially
responsible for the continuing upward trend. The
average price for a Dublin house is over
EURO 252,000 (approx US$257,000) and for a
house outside Dublin the average price is over
EURO 172,000 (approx US$175,000).
PART OF CARRICKMINES HISTORICAL SITE TO BE LOST
The completion of the M50 motorway which stretches
from the North Dublin coast, past the Airport and
out around the city towards Dun Laoghaire is to
result in the loss of 40% of a historical site.
Carrickmines Castle has been under excavation for
some years but it is smack bang in the middle of
the single largest engineering project in the
history of the State. Re-routing the motorway
would have cost over 20 Million EURO and possibly
delayed the project by up to five years.
The remains of the Castle itself will be preserved.
SPORT: TIGER WOODS WINS AT MOUNT JULIET
The world's leading golfer, Tiger Woods, won the
prestigious American Express World Championship
which was held in Ireland. With a near perfect
bogey-free tournament at his mercy an eager
photographer disturbed his concentration on his
approach to the final green of the 72-hole
marathon. He bogeyed the very last hole and was
not at all happy about it!
He won the Championship at 22 under par by a single
stroke from South African Retief Goosen.
Voice your opinion at these news issues here:
http://www.ireland-information.com/cgi-bin/newsletterboardindex.cgi
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
NEW FREE RESOURCES AT THE SITE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW COATS OF ARMS ADDED TO THE GALLERY:
The following 9 coats of arms images and family
history details have been added to the Gallery:
C: Clyne, Corbin, Cossart
D: Dudley
G: McGing, McGinnis
K: Kenyon
R: Robertson
T: Trant
View the Gallery here:
http://www.irishsurnames.com/coatsofarms/gm.htm
We now have over 20,000 worldwide names available.
Get the Coat of Arms Print, Claddagh Ring,
Screensaver, Watch, T-Shirt Transfer or Clock for
your name at:
http://www.irishnation.com/familycrestgifts.htm
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
FREE 5% DISCOUNT VOUCHER
This voucher is valid for 5 days only and can be
used against any purchase made at irishnation.com
To use the voucher simply place your order at:
http://www.irishnation.com
At the end of the ordering process you will be
asked to 'enter any special instructions here'.
Simply type in '5% Discount September Newsletter'
and we will make sure you get your discount.
VALID FOR 5 DAYS ONLY SO HURRY UP!
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
SOUND MEMORIES BY GERALDINE FLANAGAN
In woodlands, where I now live, it is surprising
how accustomed I have become to country sounds.
At night, during the hot, humid days of August,
the all encompassing mating sound of the crickets
fill the house through the open windows much like
the locust do during the day with their relentless
buzzing. Sometimes the faraway noise of a whining
motorcycle or a groaning truck compete with the
natural sounds of night but once the hushed
hooting of two owls keeping each other company
begins it's easy to ignore the rest. The next
early morning sound, together with the myriad
songs of the birds, is the yellow school bus
screeching down the road, at an ungodly hour,
searching for clusters of silent, half-asleep
children. Upon hearing its intermittent brakes
my mind affectionately goes back to other sounds
that were equally as pleasing to me when I was a
child living in Dublin city.
Back then, not as now, the local roads in my
neighborhood were almost emptied of drivers after,
as the adults would say, the decent hours of
evening were over. If I were not tired enough to
sleep my ears would hone in on the click clicking
on pavement of rushed high-heels passing by the
window. Their steady, officious pace telling all
who would hear that the wearer intends to arrive
home safely. There were no crickets or owls but
the crows had their caustic sessions much to the
annoyance of my father, who one day got up at
sunrise and, uncharacteristically, threw some
water at one sitting on a hedgerow beneath his
bedroom window.
The milkman had no sound of his own at all. I knew
of his presence by the accompanying tingling of
glass bottles and the soft intermittent
clop-clopping of his mare. We received five pint
bottles of milk every morning, so you can imagine
how careful and considerate this man was to place
them safely, and in alignment, to the right of our
red-polished doorstep. Gently, so gently he would
repeat this thoughtfulness in the dark, in winter,
all the way down the road. The fading tingling
sound was magical and always reminded me of
Tinkerbell. When the calm and comforting sound of
the clopping diminished the sublime feeling that
all is right with the world would go with it.
Morning came for me with the first church bell and
being a child I never thought to put a time on it.
All I knew was that I could get up without
suffering any wrath. It seemed to me the
neighbourhood did everything together. I heard
humanity and it was right outside. In cheerful
voices passers-by commiserated with each other on
the way to church, to school or to the bus stop.
Loud, imperative knocks landed on hall doors,
sometimes by surprisingly small hands. The din
outperformed engines, sadly, not as now. There was
no point in staying in bed, even if you were ill,
because the ears would take in the urgency of life
outside and force you to get up and start the day.
In those days, the sixties, very few people
changed jobs or moved house and so the
neighbourhood stayed constant, at least, that's
the way it seemed in the slow beat of childhood.
In many ways they were hard times and in many
ways a delight.
Geraldine Flanagan,
Pennsylvania, USA
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
CARA IRISH PENPALS NEWS
We have added a new feature that enables you to
indicate if you are interested in a possible
relationship or marriage. Log-in to your Control
Panel to find out how!
The following CARA Irish Penpals are among those
who upgraded their membership this month:
Name: Gerry (full name available at the website)
City, Country: Ireland
Age: 25
Interests: The usual for a 26 year old male,
music, cinema, sports, social life and helping
others.
Message: I would like to get a female pen-pal
for intelligent conversation to make life a
little less boring from Monday to Friday!
Name: Helen (full name available at the website)
City, Country: Newcastle, England
Age: 29
Interests: computer, gardening, shopping,
cooking & eating!
Message: would like to write to females only 30-40
Name: George (full name available at the website)
City, Country: Monterey, CA, USA
Age: 46
Interests: Fitness, Culinary Arts, and computers,
listening to music, and eating pizza.
Message: I am from Monterey, California and have
always had a fascination for Ireland and the Irish
people. I would love to correspond with an
interesting Irish woman between the ages of 40
and 47.
Name: Stacey (full name available at the website)
City, Country: Corvallis, OR, USA
Age: 36
Interests: ferrets, books, music, nursing,
shortwave radio, genealogy, history
Message: I love writing to penpals by snail
mail - email me first! =)
Looking for a penpal to communicate with, either
by email or 'snail-mail'? If you are then the
first thing you need to do is to sign up for
our FREE penpal service at:
http://www.irishpenpals.com
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
THE URBAN COWBOYS BY SARAH TRACY
Let Dublin rejoice in their young people's choice
To ride bareback through pastures of stone
It's a beauteous thing, to see horsehair and skin
So close to nature and to home
Should only the rich enjoy the ride
With stallion and beauty at their side
Let the wild shaggy horse proclaim his fame
In the marvelous race across Dublin's plain
They're not racing for gold,
like their rich counterparts
They just want to follow the love in their hearts
For the wind in their hair and the rush they glean
From galloping bareback through fields of green
It's a joy to see children
ride God's wondrous creature
Through streets so long
plagued by the car's human nature
Maiming, polluting a city so fair
Taking the lives of children so rare
So lock up your cars and open the streets
To children who ride their God-given treats
Be glad in your hearts for the glint in their eyes
They're the children of Ireland, the Urban Cowboys.
Sarah Tracy
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
FAMOUS IRISH SONGS: DANNY BOY
Dannny Boy is one of over 100 songs composed to
the same tune. The author was the English lawyer,
songwriter and entertainer, Frederic Edward
Weatherly (1848-1929). He wrote the lyrics to
Danny Boy in 1910 but only used the traditional
tune when he was sent the 'Londonderry Air' by his
sister-in-law in 1912. The song was republished in
1913. Alfred Perceval Graves was a friend of
Weatherly but the two fell out when Graves claimed
that his friend had stolen some of the lyrics that
Graves himself had written for the song. The tune
was also known as the 'Air from County Derry'.
The earliest appearance of the tune in print was
in 1855 in 'Ancient Music of Ireland' by George
Petrie (1789-1866) when it was given to Petrie by
Jane Ross of Limavady in County Derry, who claimed
to have copied the tune from an itinerant piper.
The song became very popular in America where it
was recorded by Bing Crosby. It has been used by
many Irish traditional and even rock musicians
ever since. The famous Irish rock band, Thin Lizzy,
used the music on their 1979 album, 'Black Rose'.
It remains one of the most popular and well known
Irish love songs of all time.
~~~
Danny Boy
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.
And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an 'Ave' there for me.
And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.
Listen to the tune to this and other famous Irish
songs here:
http://www.ireland-information.com/irishmusic/
The following CD collections of Irish songs are
available from:
http://www.irishnation.com/irishmusicds.htm
* All-Time Irish Favourites - 3 CD Set
* The Magic of Ireland - 4 CD Set
* 101 Beautiful Irish Ballads - 4 CD Set
* Essential Irish Pub Songs Collection - 3 CD Set
.......and many more!
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
GAELIC PHRASES OF THE MONTH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PHRASE: Ca as duit?
PRONOUNCED: caw oss dwit
MEANING: Where are you from?
PHRASE: Is as Meiricea/Sasana/Eire dom
PRONOUNCED: iss oss mare-i-caw/sos-in-ah/air-ah dum
MEANING: I am from America/England/Ireland
PHRASE: Ta tu go h-aileann!
PRONOUNCED: taw two guh haul-inn!
MEANING: You are beautiful!
View the archive of phrases here:
http://www.ireland-information.com/irishphrases.htm
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
SEPTEMBER COMPETITION RESULT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The winner was: aburke78@yahoo.co.uk
who will receive the following:
A Single Family Crest Print (decorative)
(US$19.99 value)
Send us an email to claim your prize, and well
done! Remember that all subscribers to this
newsletter are automatically entered into the
competition every time.
°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø,¸¸,ø*°´°*ø
I hope that you have enjoyed this issue.
Please keep the feedback coming!
Until the next time,
Keep Well!
Michael Green,
Editor,
The Information about Ireland Site.
http://www.ireland-information.comClick here to contact us